What is a funeral celebrant?

A person who has been trained and certified to meet the needs of families during their time of loss. A Funeral Celebrant serves by providing a funeral service, memorial service or tribute that is personalized and individualized to reflect the personality and life-style of the deceased after consultation with the family and loved ones and coordination with the funeral home.

About

LA Funeral Celebrant

Andrea Schenck

Andrea Schenck has been a certified funeral celebrant since 2009. She lives in Pasadena, California and serves the Los Angeles area. Her strengths are listening, empathy, writing, and public speaking. It has been her greatest honor to serve families when their loved ones have passed on. Andrea meets with families prior to any service, this time together is one of the most important steps to learn about your loved one, share stories and begin the grieving process in a safe environment. Next she will research, write, and design a eulogy that reflects your loved ones personal beliefs as well as respecting the families requests. Finally, she will officiate the service, deliver the eulogy, encourage family participation, and create a personalized remembrance for your loved one and the families involved. Services can be held at funeral homes, private residences, outdoor venues and grave-side.

Why do I do this?: When my father-in-law John suddenly passed away in 2009, which was early into my marriage, my mother-in-law was so sad, lost and didn’t know what to do and asked for help. I loved my father-in-law but I did not have the history my husband and his family had shared with John since I had only known him for a few years. I was able to assist with the planning and participate in the service. This was a really powerful experience and I remember sharing this with people. A woman had said you should be a “Celebrant”. I had no idea what that was and had to get on Google immediately. A few months later I completed my training through the InSight Institute and didn’t look back.

During this time I immersed myself in researching the perfect eulogies, poetry, music and rituals and was brought back to the time my own father Joseph had passed away when he was only 48 years old from cancer. It was a really sad and tough time. In addition to my personal loss there was a lot of dysfunctional family issues going on. My father had started a new family while I was still in grade school and unfortunately his new family did not like his old family. This included my mom, brother and me. So when my father passed I had prepared a speech and really wanted to be heard. My father’s new family did not include my brother or me in the obituary and we were not allowed to speak at the service. I was 19 years old and had a really hard time being silenced and in my mind history was being re-written. In hindsight this was an amazing gift – I learned services are to honor and celebrate loved-ones but they are also for the survivors, families want a voice and want to be heard. I never want a family member to go through what I had and I want to document the true family story.

What are In-Sight Institute Certified Celebrants?

Over 2700 individuals from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Trinidad,
Guatemala & the Philippines have been trained to provide unique, individualized services.

In-Sight Institute Certified Celebrants meet with the family to gather the stories and listen to the
memories. The funeral experience is built around these stories.

In-Sight Institute Certified Celebrants spend 8 to 10 hours preparing a Celebrant funeral experience
and act as a partner with the funeral director to create a funeral or memorial service that fits the
family and encourages healthy grieving.

In-Sight Institute Certified Celebrants are prepared to create a Life Tribute that fits the person who
died and his/her family. These services are not only personalized but also individualized.

Statistics

According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, one in five Americans claim no religious
identity. (Aggregated data from surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & Press, 2007-2012.
Number of respondents: 9,443 in 2007 and 17,010 in 2012.)

This group, called “nones,” is now the second largest category after Catholics, and outnumbers the top
Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptists.

One in three (32%) of the population under the age of thirty is unaffiliated and unlikely to age into
claiming a religion (USA Today 10/9/12).

There are more people over the age of 65 in our population than teenagers. The number of Americans
over 65 is expected to grow by 2030 to 65 million; nine million will be over 85, compared with four
million today.

Who Needs a Celebrant?

Your families who identify themselves as “Spiritual But Not Religious”

Your families who do not have a minister or church affiliation

Your families who want a unique, personalized service

Your families who want a Life Tribute experience the evening before a liturgical service

Services:

Pricing

Celebrant Funeral Service

$450

Eulogy Writing

$300

Funeral Program Design & Printing

$2.00/per program

As a Certified Funeral Celebrant, Andrea will meet with families prior to any service, this time together is one of the most important steps to learn about your loved one, share stories and begin the grieving process in a safe environment.

Next she will research, write, and design a eulogy that reflects your loved ones personal beliefs as well as respecting the family’s requests. Also included: unique poetry, readings, Psalms (if appropriate), and music that will further personalize the memorial.

Finally, she will officiate the service, deliver the eulogy, encourage family participation, and create a personalized remembrance for your loved one and the families involved. Services can be held at funeral homes, private residences, outdoor venues and grave-side.

Eulogy Writing – Similar to the details outlined above for a full Celebrant Funeral Service except once the eulogy is written, it is handed over to the family, Andrea would not be officiating the service.

Areas Served:

Southern California

Top 10 FAQ's

1What is a Celebrant?

A Celebrant usually performs a secular ceremony honoring and celebrating your loved-one with a truly personalized memorial. A Celebrant meets with families, writes and designs a truly personalized service, encourages family participation, incorporates poetry and music and performs (officiates) the service.

2How do you put a funeral ceremony together?

One of the most important parts of planning a ceremony/funeral is the family meeting; this can take place in person or by phone (if family is out of state). This is an incredible opportunity to meet with family in a safe environment and really learn about your loved-one. This is the beginning of the grieving process and the Celebrant can learn details about your loved-one’s life.

3Do you have a set script?

No. Celebrants meet with family members prior to any service. This being said, no service is the same, once the celebrant learns about your loved-one’s life they will design and write a personalized service that is only for your family member.

4Are you clergy or a minster?

I am not a religious leader, but I have been trained to design, honor and create a moving service that reflects your loved-one’s life as well as honoring the family’s requests. If the family wants to include religious readings this is welcome and always honored.

5Where can ceremonies be performed?

Anywhere including funeral homes, grave-side, outdoor locations (except as prohibited by law), private residences, nursing and convalescent facilities that have adequate space for a service.

6How long do ceremonies take?

Typically any customized ceremony lasts for 25-45 minutes.

7What if our loved one is being cremated?

Regardless if the service includes interment of a casket of cremation a Celebrant service will honor and celebrate your loved-one and a full service can be performed.

8Do you provide the chapel?

I work from home and travel to families for meetings and services. I can suggest local Funeral Homes and service locations in Southern California.

9Do I have to speak at the service?

Family participation is always encouraged but never forced or required. A Celebrant will design and perform the service for your family. If there are words and thoughts you want to convey but are not comfortable speaking the Celebrant can speak for you.

10I would like to plan my own service, can you help?

Yes. If you are interested in pre-need planning I can meet with you to assist with planning, eulogy writing and assisting with details.